‘The X-Files’ Season 11 Premiere: The Truth Is Still Out There — And So Is William

In ‘The X-Files’ season 11 premiere Scully is having visions of the end of the world, courtesy of the Cigarette Smoking Man. The only thing that can stop him is William — and Mulder believing her.

Season 11 of The X-Files opens with a monologue by the man of the hour, the Cigarette Smoking Man. He’s alive and well. But Scully isn’t. Season 10 ended with Mulder (David Duchovny) on the brink of death, and Scully (Gillian Anderson) looking up into the sky at a landing UFO. Surprise — it was all a fever dream. Scully had what doctors believe was a seizure at the FBI field office. The neurologist tells Mulder that Scully has brain activity while unconscious that she’s never seen before.

Skinner takes a look at the flashing lights on her brain scan, and proposes that it’s morse code: “find him.” We presume she means William, her son with Mulder, right? It’s more complicated than that. Scully wakes up and tells Mulder he needs to find the Smoking Man. Her babbling switches the dichotomy between them: Mulder’s the skeptic now. He thinks the CSM is dead, because the battle of last season was all in Scully’s head. But was it really fake? As Scully tells Mulder, she’s the rational one. If she’s telling him something outlandish, he needs to believe her.

Mulder sets off on a journey to find the CSM in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Scully busts out of the hospital in search of anything that will help her find William. Scully and Mulder’s son, whom they gave up for adoption as a baby to protect him, is the only thing that save Mulder if her doomsday dream comes true. Spender has warned her that William is now in danger, but we don’t know why. He tells Scully the last name of the people who adopted him, and that’s it.

But those visions Scully keeps happening — they manifest in excruciating migraines and flashes of lightning in her vision. It gets too much, she knows too much, and collapses while driving. She can’t save anyone right now. She’s not the only person having visions; the Smoking Man knows that Mulder’s coming for him, and that Scully’s desperate for salvation. He approaches Skinner at the FBI HQ and offers him immunity. If he tells him where William (Monica calls him his “weakness”) is, then he can be literally immune to the genocidal Spartan virus.

The CSM tells him that there are two people besides himself who are naturally immune: Scully and William. Mulder is not. While the CSM believes Scully will fall in line with his plans, Skinner’s not buying it. She would never leave Mulder to die. The CSM reveals something sinister and shocking, and downright vile. Ready? Seventeen years ago, he took Scully on a work trip — and drugged her. He impregnated her using “alien science,” he explains to Skinner…and he’s the sperm donor. Mulder is not William’s father.

While this conversation is happening, Scully, who is back in the hospital after another catastrophic vision, is attacked by an unknown man. Mulder slits the assailant’s throat to save Scully’s life. When Skinner appears, he smells like smoke. And Mulder knows what that must mean. For everything insane that Mulder’s experienced and seen, he’s still skeptical about what Scully’s been telling him. They have to find William. The truth is out there.

The X-Files airs Tuesdays at 8:00pm on FOX.

HollywoodLifers, do you have high hopes for season 11 of The X-Files after seeing the premiere episode? Let us know!